Advances in Neuroimmune Biology - Volume 5, issue 1

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ISSN 1878-948X (P)

ISSN 1878-9498 (E)

This journal will publish review articles and original research that deal with a novel and very important area of biology. The ultimate objective is to understand the integrative regulation of higher organisms in their entire complexity. It has been firmly established already that the Nervous, Endocrine and Immune systems form a regulatory network, a Super-System, which governs all events from conception till death in higher animals and in man, including physiological and pathophysiological processes.

It follows from the above definition that a review journal covering this area of Biomedicine must operate in a “multidisciplinary” fashion. The rapidly accumulating and fragmented information available today will be collected, organized and interpreted; the elements, compounds, cells and tissues will be fitted into living organisms and our knowledge of the biology of such higher organisms will be enhanced. The rules of physiological interactions during homeostasis must be understood and also the regulatory interactions in diseases must be followed, which operate during pathophysiological conditions (allostasis).

Abstract: Obesity has reached epidemic proportions worldwide and is considered to be the fifth leading risk for death in the world, since it is associated with the development of a large number of chronic, non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and a number of malignancies, including breast cancer. Thus, it is important to have knowledge of the changes in adipose tissue under conditions of obesity and to understand the mechanisms involved in the interactions between this tissue and the mammary gland which contribute to the development of breast cancer. The aim of this review was to present epidemiological and molecular…evidence that supports some of the hypotheses related to the link between obesity, inflammation and breast cancer. Here we describe three main hypotheses: a) the interaction between obesity and breast cancer via androgen aromatization; 2) the increase of two mitogens such as insulin (hyperinsulinemia) and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) secondary to metabolic syndrome development by obesity and 3) the endocrine functions of adipocytes and their interactions with the immune system. In this review we analyze how some adipocytokines, such as leptin, adiponectin, and some cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI1) may function as risk factors for breast cancer development and show some evidence that explains the roll of inflammatory foci known “crown-like” structures (CLS) [constituted by dead adipocytes surrounded by macrophages M1 or M2] on breast cancer development, due to their ability to secrete and regulate different pro-inflammatory molecules (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα) or anti-inflammatory protein (IL-10) involved in different cellular processes associated with carcinogenesis, such as proliferation, apoptosis, metastasis, invasion.
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Abstract: Taiep rat is a myelin mutant with a progressive motor syndrome characterized by tremor, ataxia, immobility episodes, epilepsy and paralysis of the hind limbs. The rats show an initial hypomyelination, followed by a progressive demyelination of the central nervous system, but not peripheral nerves. All myelin alterations are due to an accumulation of microtubules in the cytoplasm and their process in oligodendrocytes, which disrupt the transporting mechanism from endoplasmic reticulum to Cis portion of the Golgi apparatus. Because of these microtubule alterations, all major myelin proteins decreased progressively. In fact, several brain regions of taiep rats showed an increment in…the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) suggesting glia activation. Additionally, when glial cells from taiep rats were cultured and exposed to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interferon gamma (IFN)-gamma, they produced higher amounts of nitrites and nitrates than control glial cells, suggesting an activation of glia cells in taiep rats. There are also an activation of interleukins and changes in their receptors that correlated with the progressive demyelination in this myelin mutant. The activation of immune responses in older rats correlated with the electrophysiological alterations such as changes in the sleep-wake pattern and absence seizures, or locomotion pattern and ataxia. Additionally, the frequency and mean duration of immobility episodes (IE's) increased after 6 month of age, which is an expression of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep alteration, suggesting that taiep rats suffer of narcolepsy-cataplexy. These results clearly showed that taiep rats are suitable model of neuro-immune alterations associated to chronic demyelination, and it is alternative model to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis to study glia-neuron interaction. In conclusion, taiep rat showed progressive immunological, electrophysiological and behavioral alterations due to demyelination associated with normal lifespan that allow us to do diverse studies from different approaches.
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Abstract: Glucocorticoids (GCs), the most downstream effectors of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, are key mediators in the interaction between immune and neuroendocrine systems. They exert their biological actions mainly through binding to their intracellular receptor, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which in turn influences gene expression by interacting with transcription factors and/or coregulators. GR abnormal function has been extensively associated to stress-related disorders, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, modulating GR activity is critical to overcome pathological conditions. The final outcome of GCs actions in the immune and neuroendocrine systems is regulated at multiple levels, including post-translational modifications (PTMs) of GR as well…as of protein complexes involved in GR signaling. Understanding the influence of PTMs on the molecular mechanisms involved in GR signaling is thus of utmost importance in the search for therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating GR responses under pathophysiological circumstances, and to understand the neuroimmune circuits.
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Abstract: Cell migration is a crucial event for normal T cell development, and various ligand/receptor pairs have been indicated. Most of them, including chemokines and extracellular matrix proteins, have attractant properties upon thymocytes. Some other molecules can exert chemorepulsive effects, as we previously demonstrated for galectin-3. Nearly all these molecules are also expressed and can regulate the physiology of the nervous system. Conversely, some molecules initially described in the nervous system are also found in the immune system, notably in the thymus, suggesting their possible role as common mediators between neuroendocrine and immune systems. We summarize herein the data on the…constitutive expression and role of typical neuron guiding molecules in the thymus. Furthermore, we discuss the complexity of thymocyte migration, which results from a network of molecular interactions, including those commonly found in the nervous system, and generate not only attraction, but also repulsion of migrating T cell precursors.
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